Improvement in the manufacture of steel, steely iron



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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIGE.

n JAMES D. lVHELPLEY AND JACOB J. STORER, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE O F STEEL, STEELY IRON, AND HOMOGENEOUS 0R CRYSTALLINE IRON.A

VSpccIii-ation forming part of Letters Patent No. 111.504, dated J anunry 31, 1871.

.To all whoin' t may concern:

Be it known that ave, JAMES D. VHELP- LEY and JACOB J. STORER, ot' Boston, in the county of Snii'olkand State of Massachusetts, have madea new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Steel, Steely Iron, and Honiogeneons or Crystalline Iron'; and we hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,

and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which forms apart of this specification.

llerctofore steel and crystalline or homogeneous 'iron having steely qualities have `been made from wrought or fibrous iron or pu'ddlcd.

bar` by what is, known as the cementation process, or by mclting such iron with casty iron or with various carbonizing uxe's, orl by fusion in covered crucibles.

Steel has alsobeen made by heating bariron in a niniile or retort surrounded by carbonaceous gases. Y

. Ourinvention consists in converting wrought or fibrous iron, such as muck-bar or its equivaient, into 'crystalline iron or steel by. melting it on the hearth of a reverberatory furl nace by means of a carbonizing or non-oxidizing flame ofhigh temperature, produced by bringing together carbonaceous gas ami hot blast, with or without the addition of pulverized fuel. The e'e'et of this treatmen't is to fuse the iron, and at the same time give it the character of steel or homogeneous or crystalline iron, its degree of carbonization being determined as hereinafter described.

The following description will enable any one skilled inthe arts relating to our invention to make and use the same. A

vln thexdrawings, M is'a reverberatory furnace, and N a gas-generator and blast-heating lnipparatus combined. This form of gasgenerator and heating apparatus is our invention, and is` the subject of another application for a patent made by us.

The cold air enters at l), and passing through the pipes p 1 1 p .is heated.v AtO the gas from the gas-generator is mingled with the hot air from the plpes p p p, and, when desired, a

- jet of pulverized fuel is mingled with the gas and hot air.

Instead ofthe methodof producing heat shown in the drawing, that described in our Patent N0.l 109,785, dated November 29,1870, may be used.

The m achinefor feeding pulverzed fuel may.

be that describedin our several patents relating to that subject, or any other suitable apparatus foi` injecting such fuel into a furnace. The

Specialpoint required is that aflame ot' suffi-"- ciently high temperature to melt or soften wrought or bar iron must be applied, and it must be so charged with carbon as to prevent the oxidization of the metal upon the furnacehearth, and to promote the' absorption by the I `metal of carbon, either in the solid forni or in that of oxide o f carbon, or both.

In the drawing, the machine T for injecting pnlverized fuel is shown below the level of the point where thev pulverized fuel, hot blast, and gas enter the' combustion-chamber of tlie'furA nace; but it maybe placed in any required po# sition; and, instead' of 011e, several 'fues or tuyeres for conveying the pulverizedfuel may b'e used, as described in our Paten'tNol 103,695,

dated May 31, 1870, and` several fines or tuyeres may be used for the distribution of the 'hot'blast and gases.

The form of furnace shown in our Patent No. 10],067,dated March 22,1870, may be also usedinstead of 4the ordinaryfurnace shown in the drawing, and the lmethod of using the heated gases,-as described and claimed in our.

Patent N o. 101,067 ,dated March 22, 187 0, may also be used.

By reference to the drawing it'will be seenthat the jet of pulverized fuel whenused ventersy between the iet of carbon gas andthe jet of hot air, the air-jet being aboveyso as to prevent .an'oxidizing-ame from coming in -blast is then reduced in quantity, if necessary,

and the supply of pulverized fuel, when used, increased, so as to produce a flame containing will be oxidized if atmospheric 'air bein ex-4 cess.

ot carbonio oxide.

iron, and the like.

a constant .excess of oxideof4 carbon, l'This will be known by watching the charge,ix'vhich '.lhedirect-ion ofthe pnlverizedffueljj'et, when used, should be alittle below the horizontal lille of the furnace,'nxaking a. small angle therewith, so as to insure an excess of carbonic.- oxide' gas upon the charge in the furnace.

The gas-generator should be kept well filled with coal, so as to furnish .an abundant supply Under the iniiuence of the -ilame lproduced by either of the processesaove mentioned the iron on the hearthis quickly vraisedtc'at very high temperature, and in thatcondition sion and the conversion into crystalline or into homogeneous metal.

NVhensteelof highgrade is required the carbonization is. aided. or; completed by 4the addition of a smallamonnt of."castl iron,`or spiegeleisen, or other carbonizing agent, at; the sametime cont-inning the furnace process.

The furnace which wehave used, andivhich answers the purpose, is seven feet eight inches by live feet eight inches, measured aerossthe hearth, which has tho-form ofa shallow basin, about threeand a half inches. deep at the center.

A charge of wrought-iron, (say, one thousand pounds, more o r'1ess,) charged in cold', will attain to perfect fusion in 'about an'hour, more orless. No surface protection tothe charge-was enr pleyed, except the reducing-name itself, andA no earbonizing material was added to the metal exeept'what was contained in the flame,

vAfter melting andboiling acharge fora few minutes, yferro-manganese, or some equivalent puritier for the separation of any oxide ofiron', 1 as is the custom in the manufacture of steels and homogeneous irons, may be added, and as soon as the di'usion is 'complete the metall should be drawn od' in the usual manner.' The'.-

, taphole for this purpose maybe either under the working door, cron the opposite side, or

lin any other suitable position. By this process there s 'very little, if any, loss of iron, as the slag produced, when any is produced, rcsembles ordinary black glass, containing only traces of iron.

Instead of v'using muck-bar'nny equivalent` fibrous iron may be used, such aspuddled blooms, iron spon ges, or puddled balls, scrapf We are aware that steel and crystalline iron have been produced byv dissolvingwroughtiron in a bath of cast-iron or lsteelfan'd that wrought-iron has been fused in covered omeibles, with or without chemicals, so, as to'pro'- duce like results.

Our process diers both in practice and in method from these'. -Thetime'required is much shorter than by the crucible'or any otherprocess, 'and the labor insignificant when conipared with of the methods in use forpro ducing. steel; and thel cost vof appara'tus, fuel, 'and appliances' is much less" thanthat .of an y l other methodwith which weare acquainted. In this process hydrogen and hydrocarbons may be usedns reducents iii-combination with the hot-blast and oxide of carbon,-and,in point of fact, a smallquantity of hydrogen and hydrocarbons vinustg-be .invariably present in such la process, because 'of v'the' vmoisture in all lfuels,- and all?, and thef'distillation et hydrocarbons i "frombituminous coals.

`,lhe quantity of. these may be, of course, 1n-

creased-'at-will by the lus'e, et' steam, excess ot moisturen the-fuel employed, lthe substitut.' tion of. wood as .afuel inthe .gasgenemtoror probably absorbs a small amena-tof carbon-or il Vcarbonio oxide, vor both, so as to assist the Afure-box, and other obvious ways. A fire -box of. the 4usual character 'i-nay be substituted, with goodresultsorthe gasgen-A erster, and .the hotlairpipes' be placed-inl the rfire-place or .at the other extremity pf the' fur-- nace, as described in our patent of November 29,1870; but we much prefer the'l use ofthe -.gas-gencratorin'this conneetion, tbrthe special reason, among-L others,that with it it is moreeasyt'o insure aeoi'itinuo'us supply of carbonic- -onideges .I f vMost pig-i of boilingor paddling the pig-iron, properly' conducted, removes 'most' of these and other '.,impuritiegend'givesas a resi1lt a wrought -iron nearlyor' quitefree from there.

Whatis'jknown 'as scrap-iron has usually been worked and reworked -in furnace or forge -seyeral times,eaehf working improving its I quality removing further percentages jof its jimpuriti 'This cheap and .comparatively pure iron is readily melted and converted into crystalline metal by our process without the expensiv'eaddition'of pig-iron as a carbon'ize'r and solvent, for pig-iron 'of sucientrputy 'l for such carboniz'er' or solvent commandes. high price, and is noteverywhere easily obtainable, In the lSiemens-lilartin and some other proceases pig' or cast iron containing ascertain proportion of'carbon -is first introduced as thev base-of the metal to be produced, andwrought iron, or iron comparatively free-from carbon, is lvadded, and dissolved or. fused with it in suflcient quant-ities. to vreduce the percentage ot carbon'in thecombiniug to the point de-4 sired carbon, is alone put into-the furnace, and, by the action of the flame, brought, through fusicu', to. 'the condition of crystalline or homogeneous iron. Wedo not know whether in this bon contained in -fibrous or wrought irons may-,

in this process, combine with the metal, makng'it Steely. 'Nor is' it certain, if we admit ncontainsrsulphur or phosphorus ascontamiat'in'g elements.v To -make a Our these in that wrought or -iibr'ous iron, or iron comparatively free from scribed by us.

ufr-,see v W s 4that the gases in the Haine-of the furnace comx municate carbon to the metal, that this work is done 'by the oxide of carbon itself.4 It may he that the small quantities ofhydrocarbons containing hydrogen, whicnare always present in the da-Ine of afnrnace, are the efcient .f agents of carbonizat-ion;v If this be truc, the process is in someV degree analogous with that of the cementation of iron for the production of blister-steel. 1 v

The use of pnlverinedA fuel inthe above-dyeseribed process willbe in most cases essential, 'an d it can only he omitted in the process where j large quantities of hydrocarbon gases and -oxide or carbon cnn be Vobtained at avery cheap rate'. It is well known that a-,fiame of exceeding l intensity can be' obtained -by burninghydrocarbon gases, with or without oxide of carbon, combined with a jet of heated 'atmospheric air. A flame of the proper reducing quality and of the proper intensity can thus be obtained -for ihe fusion of wrought-iron.

It is not necessary jto describe the methods oi' obtaining aiamc of this character, as they are weil known to chemists and metallurgists but we are not aware 'that a.' flame of this characier has been applied 'to the manufacture of' steel by the process `and` in the manner dc` By the substitution of pulverizcd fuel, in

-great part, for hyrirocarbonvapors, the process becomes much more economical and convenient in practice. We should-therefore prefer to employ itin nearly all instances.

` Having-thus described 'our invention, what we claim, aml'desire to secureby Letters Patent ofthe United States,is

1. The improved process herein described for convert-ing wroughtfiron into steel, steeiy iron, and. homogeneous 'or crystalline metal; consisting in.. subjectingwrought-iron, on the 'hearth of a rcverberatory'furnace, to a ame oi high temperature and?- reducin g or carbonizin g character, so as to fuse the seme, substantial ly as described. j l. j

2. The method'gescribed for reducing or fusing bar or wrought iron by charging it on a hearth. oi" a 'reverheratory furnace, and subjecting it to a flame produced. bybringing together' a combined jet of hot air and hot gas and pulverized fuci, in theimanner andV for the Y ciali-yes described, for ohtaining'the results herein speciied.

` JAMES D. WHELrLnY.

.moon J. sirenes. 'i

Witnesses.: CHARLES M. NIeKEnsoN, FRED. W. LONGLEY. 

